Love Teaches Even Asses to Dance is a collection of fifty-two essays by P. Raja, a poet-critic, whose mastery of words, or sound and sense, convinces me that like poetry, prose too needs to be written (and read) carefully and thought about considerably for continuing rewards in experience and understanding. The essays are readable and memorable because the writer, like Walter Benjamin, knows, “work on good prose has three steps: a musical stage when it is composed, an architectonic one when it is built, and a textile one when it is woven.”

P. Raja evinces these characteristics in his brief, simple, unaffected pieces that have poetic felicity and intellectual intensity. Whether he communicates information or talks about the ordinary business of living, he seeks to construct a sense and a perception of life, widening and sharpening our contacts with existence. Whatever his concern in a context – literary, academic, social, cultural, anecdotal, historical, personal, or spiritual – P. Raja writes with experience. He is motivated by the inner need to live more deeply and fully, and with greater awareness to know the experience of others and to better his own experience. He shares with readers his observations and evaluations, and thus, creates new experiences for them, well-formed and focused, imparting a better understanding of our world. For example:

“The notion that ‘poets are born’ is dead and gone. Inspiration, creativity and talenthave become misnomers as far as poetry is concerned. The saying now is ‘poets are made’. Yes. Poets are made, not by any intensive study of the masters of that art, but by the all powerful Lord MONEY.”

(‘If you have got the money they will make youa poet’)

“It is said that wise men read books but only the fools buy them. Beware! There are many wise men around.”

(‘Book Snatchers’)

“I will show you fear in a handful of dust,” wrote T.S. Eliot. But what the Christian poet could show in a handful, Hindus could with just a pinch of ash. All that one has to do is to go to a temple and stretch one’s palm before the poojari.”

(“Fear freezes up the heart of life’)

“While the conditions of women are changing all over the world, nothingdramatic has happened to Indian women. Blamed be our culture.”

(‘Women’s Lib.and the Indian psyche’)

“I have seen my father shouting at my mother whenever he found in his foodalong hair immaterial of its ownership. It took days for my mother to cool down. I too have shouted at my wife for that same flimsy reason and got back nicely when the hair was a small one. What we say to others matters little while what really matters is how we say it. This is applicable to all those who care for human relationship and want to establish a pleasant form of rapport with others.”

(‘Small Things Matter’)

‘Female mosquitoes are real vampires. None can escape their wrath-filled tiny needle like sucker. Many of these winged vampires get killed when we are awake. And when we are asleep they administer slow poison to us. Without our knowledge we barter away a few c.c. of our precious blood for the wide variety of diseases they hawk. And that happens almost every night. The only consolation the scientists offer (let us have faith in them) is that the mosquitoes do not have AIDS for sale. Praised by Allah, Jesus and the Hindu Trinity.”

(‘Mosquitoes are thankless creatures’)

As obvious from these random examples, P. Raja uses his literary skills – sarcasm, irony, wit, humour – as a gear to step up the intensity andincrease the range of everyday experience, analyzing, synthesizing, and clarifying it. His success lies in letting us participate in his personal experiences and viewpoints rooted in humanity.

P. Raja appeals to me as one of the few excellent essayists in India today. He is unpretentious, straightforward, neat, and convincing, whatever his chosen theme for reflection: man, woman, mother, god, animal, trees, nature, history, religion, mind, anger, desire, fear, smile, sincerity, patience, love, women’s liberation, kolam, folklores, epitaphs, book-reading, story-telling, or use of English in public domain etc. He writes with feeling, commitment, and maturity, without wasting words or becoming vulgar, hackneyed, pedantic, periphrastic or pleonastic.

Reading P. Raja’sessays --personal and serious – with sprinklings from the Bible, the Upanishads, the Puranas, the Mahabharata, Panchatantra, Thirukural, Indian and European history, and literary tomes is an enlightening experience. One comes across wit and wisdom aimed at promoting human values and moral behaviour based on dharma.

With its quality paper, flawless printing, attractive get-up, and moderate price, Love Teaches Even Assesto Dance competes with the best from any multinational press in India or overseas. Readers will find the book appealing for its balanced content. P. Raja deserves kudos for his excellence in a genre very few recentIndian English writers have made their presence noted.

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About Me

Ram Krishna Singh is a university professor whose main fields of
interest consist of Indian English writing, especially poetry, and English for
Specific Purposes, especially for science and technology. He was born on 31
December 1950 in Varanasi, India. Apart from a BA earned in 1970, he gained his
MA in English Literature from Banaras Hindu University in 1972 and Ph D from
Kashi Vidyapith, Varanasi, in 1981. He also obtained a Diploma in Russian in
1972. Dr Singh started his career in journalism, as a Compilation Officer in
the District Gazetteers Department, Lucknow, 1973, and a Journalist with the
Press Trust of India, New Delhi, 1973-74. Changing to teaching he became a
Lecturer at the Royal Bhutan Polytechnic, Deothang, Bhutan, 1974-76. Joining
the Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad as a Lecturer from 1976-83, he then rose
to Assistant Professor in 1983 and full Professor and Head of the Institute’s
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences since 1993 to 2011. He is now
Professor of English (HAG).

A reviewer, critic and contemporary poet who writes in Indian English, Dr.
Singh is the author of more than 160 research articles and 175 book reviews. He
has published 39 books, including: Savitri : A Spiritual Epic (Criticism,
1984); My Silence (poems, 1985); Sound and Silence (edited articles on
Krishna Srinivas, 1986); Indian English
Writing : 1981-1985 : Experiments with Expression (ed., 1987, rept. 1991); Using English in Science and Technology (textbook,
1988, rev. and rept, 2000); Recent Indian
English Poets : Expressions and Beliefs (ed. 1992); Two Poets: R.K. Singh (I DO NOT QUESTION) Ujjal Singh Bahri (THE
GRAMMAR OF MY LIFE) (poems, 1994); General
English Practice (textbook, 1995); Anger
in Action : Explorations of Anger in Indian Writing in English (ed.,1997); My Silence and Other Selected Poems :
1974-1994 (poems, 1996); Above the
Earth’s Green (poems, 1997); Psychic
Knot : Search for Tolerance in Indian English Fiction (ed., 1998); New Zealand Literature : Some Recent Trends
(ed.,1998); Every Stone Drop Pebble (haiku,
1999); Multiple-Choice General English
for UPSC Competitive Exams (textbook, 2001); Cover to Cover (poems, 2002). Pacem
in Terris ( haiku, English and Italian, 2003), Communication : Grammar and Composition ( textbook, 2003), Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri : Essays on Love,
Life and Death ( Critical articles, 2005), Teaching English for Specific Purposes : An Evolving Experience (
Research articles and review essays, 2005), Voices
of the Present: Critical Essays on Some Indian English Poets (2006), The River Returns (tanka and haiku
collection, 2006), English as a Second
Language: Experience into Essays (ed. research articles, 2007), English Language Teaching: Some Aspects
Recollected (ed. research articles, 2008), Sexless Solitude and Other Poems (2009), Mechanics of Research Writing (2010), Sense and Silence: Collected Poems (2010), New and Selected Poems Tanka and Haiku (2012), and I Am No Jesus and Other Selected Poems, Tanka and Haiku (2014). His works have been
anthologized in about 160 publications, while his editorial activities extend
to include guest-editing of Language Forum, 1986, 1995, and Creative Forum,
1991, 1997, 1998, besides being co-editor of the latter publication from
1987-90, General Editor of Creative Forum New Poets Series, and service on the
editorial boards of Canopy, Indian Book
Chronicle, Indian Journal of Applied Linguistics, Reflections, Titiksha,
International Journal of Translation, Poetcrit, Impressions of Eternity (ie),
and SlugFest. He has evaluated about 50
PhD theses from various universities. He has also edited the ISM Newsletter for
about five years.